Automation and CI/CD

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Note

Use this when: you are wiring Launch Kit into a CI/CD pipeline, an automation framework, or an AI agent that needs structured output and exit-code-driven retry logic.

Launch Kit is designed for both interactive use and automated pipelines. Lifecycle commands support structured output, process exit codes, and capability discovery. Their output contracts differ by command.

JSON Output Mode

Use --output json for machine-readable lifecycle output. Capture output and diagnostics separately, and preserve the command exit status before parsing:

status=0
l8k generate --user-config ./cluster-config.yaml \
    --fabric ethernet --deployment-type sriov --multirail \
    --save-deployment-files ./deployments --output json \
    >generation.json 2>generation.log || status=$?
if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
    cat generation.log >&2
    exit "$status"
fi
jq . generation.json

discover, generate, and the root pipeline emit one result object. Standalone deploy has no finalized success JSON object; use its exit status. validate emits a stream of separate objects for static results, connectivity, and reportPath: capture it as JSON Lines and use jq -s . when an array is needed. preset and sosreport retain text success output despite accepting the inherited output flag.

Non-Interactive Flags

  • --output json — auto-confirm lifecycle prompts, including deployment actions.

  • --yes / -y and --quiet / -q — root-pipeline flags, not global subcommand flags.

Exit Codes

Code

Meaning

0

Success.

1

General error.

2

Validation error (invalid flags or configuration).

3

Cluster error (API unreachable, discovery failed).

4

Deployment or validation gate failure.

5

Partial success (discovery completed but deployment failed).

Structured Errors

In JSON mode, errors include structured fields (code, category, transient, suggestion) to help automation decide whether to retry or fix input. transient: true indicates a temporary condition (e.g., API unreachable) where retry is appropriate; transient: false indicates a permanent failure (e.g., invalid flag) requiring input changes.

Schema Discovery

AI agents and automation tools can programmatically discover Launch Kit’s capabilities:

l8k schema

Outputs a JSON description of available commands, phases, fabrics, deployment types, flags, exit codes, and output formats. Tools that need to know what l8k can do (without parsing --help text) use this endpoint.

See Also